The summer vacation that almost wasn’t.

So this year we kept looking at the calendar and shrugging. What do you want to do? I dunno. Where do you want to go? I dunno. 

And then finally we just said well, are we or aren’t we? And then we quickly made some reservations at an extended stay hotel in Colorado Springs one weekend and headed out the very next. I think that is a record even for us. And we planned our first Disney trip in something like three weeks. So yeah…

So Saturday the 27th of July, we headed out. Made the trip in a day. Not that bad. This year we are driving a new car (a CRV) and last year we had van troubles in Amarillo (window mechanism broke and window wouldn’t stay up, so we lost about an hour while hubs ran the van over to the dealer to get the window dealie fixed). Thankfully no such problems this year and we made it there uneventfully. Yay.

So Sunday we got up and ‘hit it’, but it was a little tricky..it was foggy and rainy. I was so happy for the Springs because I know they need rain so badly to keep the threat of fires down, but a bummer for us since we were only going to be there four days. So we made the best of things and changed what little plans we had and went to Cave of the Winds first thing. Y’all, it was so foggy, it was nuts. We weren’t sure where to walk after we parked the car because we couldn’t see that far ahead…and we’ve been there before.

This was our ‘view’ over a little overlook porch in the gift shop. Is this all a dream..did we accidentally go to the Smokies? Crazy, I tell ya.

Getting in the last text before going underground.

After the cave, we went into Manitou Springs and found some lunch. I had researched before we left, so I had an idea in mind. We ate at the Stagecoach Inn and it was a super cute place to have lunch.

And yummy. I had a bison burger. And it was good. : ) After lunch it was still raining, so we piddled around in the Penny Arcade for a little while before continuing on with our day. {the arcade was super fun for nerds, I on the other hand, went to a nearby shop}

The weather was still gloom and doom so we went to the Air Force Academy. And walked around outside. {I don’t think we thought that one through very well.} I have been going to the AFA since I was very young  but never realized there was a Catholic, Jewish and one other (Hindu maybe?) chapel below the Protestant one up top. So we checked them all out. Interesting.

And on the way back to the car, a warning came over the loud speaker to seek cover because of the weather. Rain was a frequent theme all week. : /

Monday morning we rode the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak. The weather held out for us thankfully. It was still pretty chilly at the bottom so that meant it was downright COLD at the top. {it averages 30 degrees cooler at the top than the base} Before we knew it, it was time to go back down the mountain. Such pretty views from the cog and from the top. I was so thankful the weather held out for us so we could see.

Stinkin’ gorgeous!

By the time we came off the mountain, we were starving. So we got some lunch and went to Seven Falls. I’ve gone to there since I was three years old. It is chipmunk INSANITY! So many and so cute. And so bold.

After many snapshots of these cute little guys, we headed up the gazillion {224} stairs to the top of the waterfall.

And then it rained. And we huddled under an umbrella and waited for it to pass. Thankfully it did. And then we came down. Crazy.

And then we went to Helen Hunt Falls…another one I’ve been visiting since before I can remember. Smaller…and free.

They have hummingbirds. LOTS of them.

I spent a good amount of time trying to take pics of them. They are crazy zippy…zooming all over the place. So fun to watch.

And then we stopped by Garden of the Gods and walked around. Something else I’ve been doing since I was 3. : ) It was a nice walk.

And then Tuesday, we took a day trip to Denver. I will start this by saying NEVER AGAIN. Traffic is horrid there. I’m glad went. We had a nice day, but I don’t desire to go back. And I could smack myself for ever thinking I would like to take an entire vacation in that crazy city. Just too hectic. But we did enjoy our day. : ) Just not the traffic.

We stopped by the state capitol. This was a major disappointment to us and we didn’t waste any time moving on. First off, the dome is being remodeled, so it was covered. And very dark inside. And secondly, there just isn’t all that much history to tell about inside. I guess I’m spoiled by Texas’ rich and varied history and this just left us a little flat. We decided to take the guided tour, but it was just painful. The girl was so sweet but she had a very VERY heavy Spanish accent it was was almost impossible to make out what she was saying. And when we could…yawn. So we bugged out of there after about 5 minutes of the tour.

Stained glass is sort of a ‘thing’ in the capitol, but this picture was almost funny to us. It really reminded us of something that would be on the Haunted Mansion at Disney. Doesn’t it? {be honest} I’m not meaning to offend anyone, but our entire time there was less than stellar.

Stopped by a Catholic church. Very pretty architecture. Was so wishing we could have gone inside. But no.

Kinda neat, even though I’m not Catholic.

And they have a statue and everything…

Then we went to the Molly Brown House. It’s the home of the famous “Molly Brown”, a survivor of the Titanic. It was an interesting tour. We learned a lot about Mrs. Brown, including that she wasn’t named Molly, but Margaret. No one knows where the name Molly came from. But what a lady. And what a rich history the house has. Was a really neat tour. (no pics allowed inside though)

And THEN we went to Wings Over the Rockies, which is an air and space museum. And we all thought it was PRETTY COOL. And the biggest reason was because they have an X-Wing fighter on display (a scaled replica from Star Wars…and signed by all the stars…squeee!)

It was a huge hangar filled with so much history. So much to see! We were all geeking out.

And then Wednesday, we went to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center in Divide. We visited this place after a tip from a friend and it did not disappoint. It was amazing! This is a sanctuary for wolves and foxes and also provides an educational opportunity there and out in the community. These were magnificent animals that are being cared for in such a great way. They have very LARGE enclosures, but our guide called them by name up to the fence to talk about them and feed them raw meat while she discussed them as we toured. Some of their stories aren’t for the faint of heart, but the staff there was very mindful of children without sugar coating their plight.

It was kind of funny..when the tour started, they all just started howling spontaneously which really surprised our guide. But we loved it! And then at the end, she led us in group howl to try to entice them to howl back. They finally did and it was incredible. My daughter loves wolves, and now I think I do too.

I noticed we were close to the Florissant Fossil Beds when we were at the wolf place, so we drove on further and spent a little bit of time there. I had packed a lunch for us that day since I knew we were going to be pressed for time and I didn’t want us wasting time figuring out meals, so we ate our lunch in the car, but it was comfortable and a yummy meal. After lunch, we hit the trails and saw the fossilized trees etc. A pretty walk but we didn’t stay long.

It was so pretty out there! : )

And then we went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This will be my family’s second visit, but I visited several times as a kid and have been enjoying this zoo since I was 3. Love love love!

They  have quite an impressive herd of giraffes and I love visiting them. And they love to eat from your hands so they love you visiting them too. : ) She fed a giraffe, but it was so fast, I missed the shot. I was so bummed!

The views even from the zoo are lovely!

After visiting the zoo, we also did this.

 

There go my peeps…

Stairs, stairs, stairs…

The views from the top are amazing.

And that concludes our trip. We ate dinner(at Famous Daves…I loved it even though I couldn’t eat bbq. We actually ate there twice while we were there. YUM). We packed up our stuff and hit the bed, knowing we would drive the whole way home the next day. We were sitting on the couch in the hotel room (we stayed in a Residence Inn…love!) and all I could think about was not being ready to go home yet. We discussed staying another day and driving home on Friday. I almost jumped at it, but I knew the hubs wanted that extra day to rest from all the driving before he had to return to work. And I couldn’t really do that to him. So I agreed with our original plan and we headed home Thursday. It was a full, fast trip and we loved it. I so wish we could live there…I never tire of her beauty and long for it during the rest of the year until we can (hopefully) meet again.

It makes me incredibly sad that Manitou Springs has experienced a significant flood since we visited. I know I don’t live in Colorado but I’ve visited it more than most people and it makes me sad that my “state away from home” is experiencing so much right now.

lotsa life

Life feels like it’s been hitting us coming and going the past few weeks. Just about the time the girl got over having her wisdom teeth removed, the hubs walked in the door from work announcing that he had a tooth ache. So I had a couple of weeks more of cooking soft foods and odd meal prep. And nursing somebody else. He ended up taking some days off work because he reacted to one of the antibiotics he was on. Figured that out after he lost a fair bit of his cookies in the Home Depot parking lot…and immediately came back home after thinking he was good enough to go back to work. Uh-huh. But he’s getting better now.  Still has to do the crown and all that jazz. But not in pain anymore.

And the other day I saw something sad on Facebook and thought the name sounded familiar. Sure enough…a couple that we have known (of) through a couple of churches lost a son suddenly in a car accident in Oklahoma. It has just thoroughly saddened our little area. There are ribbons tied to the trees in our neighborhood. As IF I need any help remembering this sweet family in my prayers. I finally watched his memorial online…sobbing through the entire thing. Both parents and the young man’s sisters spoke…very eloquent. Amazing grace of God at work in this family’s life right now. Blessed my heart to watch it and see God at work in them.

And then we figured out we have a slab leak. The plumbers left about 30 minutes ago. And I am feeling overwhelmed. The house is a disaster area! I need to clean EVERYTHING. Sigh….. So I’m blogging instead.

It has just felt like one thing after another for the past few weeks.

I’d like to stop this merry go round and get off please. : )

I’m glad tomorrow is a holiday…happy 4th, y’all! : )

a lack of wisdom

It’s been a rough week. My girl had her wisdom teeth out Tuesday. And it’s been as much fun as you’d think.

She’s been handling eating weird food and being in pain pretty well.

I noticed bruising yesterday.

She looks very chipmunky. If that’s a word. Well, even if it’s not. I made it up cuz it’s true. Chipmunky chipmunky chipmunky. : )

The first night, we both crashed on the sofa bed in the living room, so I’d know if she got up or was in pain.

But from then on, I let her sleep in her bed and *I* slept on the sofa bed so *I* could get up in the night and give her meds and not disturb the hubs. And after four nights of being up at all hours with her, I see even more clearly why young women are the ones to have babies, because I have been a zombie. I can’t even fathom the months and months I stumbled along hanging by a thread when my kids were babies. How did I do it?!

But since the Mr didn’t have to get up for work today, I decided to sleep in my real bed. Delightful I have to say. My sofa bed is ok, because I replaced the mattress with a much better one. But after a long night, it’s still a sofa bed. Clearly I was sleeping hard and having a little trouble remembering exactly where I was because…

…I woke up at 1am, popped my head up and said “what are you doing here?!” to the hubs. And then I got my bearings and said “oh yeah, I’M here” and giggled and went back to sleep. He has no memory of our little one sided chit chat in the wee hours.

But he got a kick out of it this morning.

Can’t decide who is lacking more wisdom. The girl…or me. 

hot….not in a good way ; )

I wish I had one of those little gun things that you point at a surface and it tells you it’s temp.

I’d like to point it at my scar area under my bra after I do cardio.

Cuz it’s hotter than the blazes in there.

I keep thinking about inventing a small ice pack that can go behind the foobs to cool things to heck down in there.

It’s gonna be a long summer. *fanning hopelessly…*

And with a click of the mouse…

….she’s finished with high school.

No prom. No parties. No awards ceremonies. No cap and gown.

No whoopla whatsoever.

Just a little click of the mouse exactly like a zillion others, but this one carried with it her last assignment.

And that was that. Over. Done.

No bells or whistles or tickertape parade. We slipped into the void of being done with high school so quietly.

Very strange and surreal.

Friend’s daughters are going away to school…some as early as next week. Others in the fall.

The changes here feel just as drastic until I am reminded that I’m not leaving her miles and miles away. She will be going to a two year college about two miles from our house just to get the basics over. This will allow her get her bearings a bit and decide something she would like to ‘do’.

So there are changes. I guess ours just feel more subtle since she will come home to us every afternoon. Something we haven’t had since she was in 9th grade….the going and the coming home part.

Come fall, I will miss having her around all the time. But she’s growing up.

*long contemplative sigh…..*

Happy graduation, sweetie girl. : )

of bras and boobs

I had been putting off buying more bras. I knew after six months, I was eligible for two new ones. But what a hassle. And since I hadn’t been wearing them full time that long when six months rolled around, I just punted on the whole thing.

And then I decided it was time.

So I called the survivor chick place I go to and asked (praying inside for a miracle) if they still carried my favorite bra. It was a no. : ( So I had to make an appointment, come in and be refitted.

The place is super nice and very private and the girls there are great. And the experience itself is a positive one. The girl that helps me usually is a survivor herself and super patient.

We tried on and tried on. I finally asked her if I won the prize for the most try-ons.  But of course, I had not. It just felt like it. And her comment was that some girls find something that works right away. And it takes a little more work for others to find the perfect fit. And I guess I fit in the later category since my perfect bra is no longer made. (insert loud cries and pouts here)

We finally found a bra that sort of fit but it wasn’t in my size. So they ordered me one up and yesterday I went to try it on. It was a sports bra and seemed to support the foobs pretty well. And it didn’t have seams going across the bust. I HATE bras that have weird seams that seem to shine like a beacon in the night under my tops. Nothing like having my clothes shout out…lookie at the foobs. Notice anything weird? That’s exactly how some bras made me feel. Like extra attention was being drawn to the ladies than is normal or necessary. The foobs and I, we just wanna blend in, I tell ya.

So back to the sports bra. I bought it. And then tried it on again when I got home. And noticed something that bothered me ever so slightly. My foobs seemed not quite so cutely shaped, a little smashed and didn’t seem to stick out quite as far as with my other regular bras. And frankly, it ticked me off a little bit. When trying on bras, I am not wearing a top and after trying on so many, it seemed like a victory to find anything that came close to fitting. Without having weird seams. And it was super comfortable which was a major coup.  I tried it on for the girl and put my top back on and asked her if she noticed anything different in the foobial area. And she said they seemed a little smaller. BUMMER. I guess it’s not enough that I went from a D in real life to a B (which was my choice, I know), but now to be told they seem even smaller. It was almost too much to take. I did show and tell with the hubs last night and he couldn’t tell. But then again, the house could be sitting in smoldering ashes and he still wouldn’t be sure if he smelled smoke. He’s not always very perceptive, if ya know what I mean. But it’s bought and it’s mine, so that’s that. I know I will wear it and probably be ok with it. But I am just a little bummed about the fit.

And with the bra, I also bought a cami that is pretty cool. My foobs fit inside it so all I have are the two spaghetti straps on my shoulders. It’s very freeing to wear it. The scoop of the neck is bordering on being in the danger zone, but I finally decided to heck with it, I am just going to wear it. If some weird perv is so concerned with my anatomy, then he needs a lesson in eyes up here, eyes up here. So I went with it. I hope I am happy with it when I actually wear it, ya know…out.

So I am a bit pouty about this whole bra thing. This whole fiasco has just gotten under my skin a little bit.

No real point or fancy bow tie of an end to this post. I just needed to fuss. Thanks for listening. : )

guacamole

I was flippin’ channels the other day and caught a bit of Hungry Girl on tv. I don’t watch cooking shows much, but the fact that she was doing Mexican food made me perk up. I looove Mexican food.

And here is a true confession….I hadn’t ever had guacamole until a few years ago. I watched Alton Brown make it on Good Eats and decided to give it a whirl. And YUM! I lament all the years of going to Mexican food places and shoving ‘that nasty green stuff’ aside. Oh, what I missed!

But anyhoo, back to Hungry Girl. She was trying to make guacamole less fattening. (IMO guac is fine just like it is…replacing a healthy fat with a carb doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.) So! She put some mashed up green peas in with some avocado to make guacamole.

I just about died.

Talk about messing up some perfectly good food. Peas? Really?!

I do hereby promise that I will never EVER ruin a perfectly good dish by adding peas. Especially my beloved guacamole.

The end.

Pass the chips. ; )